1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to stethoscopes used for diagnostic purposes. More particularly, the present invention relates to electronic stethoscopes and methods for processing signals in electronic stethoscopes for diagnostic purposes.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Electronic stethoscopes are known in the art. Examples of electronic stethoscopes may be seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,247,324, 4,071,694, 4,170,717, 4,254,302, 4,438,772, 4,528,690, 4,534,058, and 4,618,986.
Despite the availability of electronic stethoscopes, they do not appear to be widely used by medical personnel, such as doctors, nurses, and emergency medical technicians. Although the reasons for this lack of acceptance are not completely clear, one problem with some presently available electronic stethoscopes may be that they do not reproduce acoustic signals resulting from the operation of various body organs in a manner that is familiar to a trained user. Other problems with some presently available electronic stethoscopes are that they consume too much power, weigh too much, are too large, or require a user to change the manner in which the stethoscope is used as compared to a conventional acoustic stethoscope.
Medical personnel learn the art of auscultation primarily through the use of an acoustic stethoscope and are trained to hear normal and abnormal heart and lung sounds based on their specific acoustic qualities and their timing relative to other biological sounds. Acoustic stethoscopes thus have particular characteristics whose effect upon the acoustic signals heard by the medical personnel become familiar and are relied upon for diagnosis. Some conventional electronic stethoscopes do not reproduce heart and lung sounds with the same spectral characteristics as acoustic stethoscopes.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide an electronic stethoscope that overcomes at least the above-discussed disadvantages.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for processing acoustic signals generated by biological activity to provide enhanced diagnostic information.